Be declarer for a change…

West begins with the spade ten. You win and play a diamond to the king and ace. (I hope you don’t mind this, it is what happened at the table.) East returns the queen of clubs, LHO follows low. Over to you. Back on Monday.

How good are my opponents? Playing in the $10 game doesn’t guarantee they’re good by any means.

The club layout that worries me is QJ8x with RHO. If I take the K, they have communication to cash up 3 clubs. Assuming the DJ doesn’t drop.

Is that consistent with everything else? Sure, give East x Q9xxx Axx QJ8x. CQ would seem like the best shot, and LHO could easily figure out to duck the CA.

There are other hands he could have, and maybe even with SQx he might figure out clubs is a better shot.

So, I duck the club, win the return (which better not be a small spade, or I’ll look like a total dufus), cash DQ and stick the H10 on the table. Later on, depending on how things go, I may be pitching H8 on the D10.